Radiation News Roundup for April 23, 2013
IAEA says that Japanese Fukushima cleanup may take more than 40 years. washingtonpost.com
April 2013
Geiger Readings for April 23, 2013
Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on April 22, 2013
Ambient office = .100 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .131 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = .153 microsieverts per hour
Banana from local grocery store = .086 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .101 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .085 microsieverts per hour
Nuclear Reactors 20 - The Threat of Solar Storms
I have posted a lot of articles about threats to nuclear reactors. Aside from problems originating within a power plant like fires, explosions and meltdowns, I have talked about hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and other external threats. But it turns out that there are threats to our nuclear reactors that are literally out of this world.
Geiger Readings for April 22, 2013
Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on April 22, 2013
Ambient office = .050 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .077 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = .098 microsieverts per hour
Opal apple from local grocery store = .079 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .087 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .070 microsieverts per hour
Geiger Readings for April 21, 2013
Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on April 21, 2013
Ambient office = .067 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .097 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = .110 microsieverts per hour
Redleaf lettuce from local grocery store = .117 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .109 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .088 microsieverts per hour
Nuclear Reactors 20 - The Threat of Solar Storms
I have posted a lot of articles about threats to nuclear reactors. Aside from problems originating within a power plant like fires, explosions and meltdowns, I have talked about hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and other external threats. But it turns out that there are threats to our nuclear reactors that are literally out of this world.
Geiger Readings for April 20, 2013
Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on April 20, 2013
Ambient office = .090 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .099 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain = .102 microsieverts per hour
Zante currants from local grocery store = .047 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .110 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .087 microsieverts per hour
Radioactive Waste 24 - Legacy Waste in the English Channel
There is a lot of nuclear waste around the world that was just dumped and forgotten. Some of it is buried and some is in bodies of water. Sometimes there is an incident such as the cancer cluster in the United States in an area when nuclear work was done during the Cold War and then shut down and forgotten. Sometimes people find old records that point to a forgotten dump. And on other occasions, someone stumbles across the old dump.
Geiger Readings for April 19, 2013
Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on April 19, 2013
Ambient office = .070 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .085 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain = .126 microsieverts per hour
Asparagus from local grocery store = .067 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .077 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .061 microsieverts per hour
U.S. Government Deliberately Exposed Citizens to Radiation
Many people in the United States know that the Nazis performed horrible and often lethal experiments on prisoners. Lesser known are equally horrific experiments carried out by the Japanese during World War II. While we are reluctant to accept that the United States Government would ever experiment on U.S. citizens without their permission or even knowledge, there are known incidents of such experiments.
Geiger Readings for April 18, 2013
Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on April 18, 2013
Ambient office = .070 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .108 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain = .103 microsieverts per hour
Iceberg lettuce from local grocery store = .129 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .060 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .053 microsieverts per hour
New Japanese Rules for Restarting Reactors
Following the nuclear disaster at Fukushima in Japan, all their operating nuclear reactors were shut down. There has been a fierce debate and many mass protests as the Japanese government and people try to decide what role nuclear energy should have in supplying electricity to their country. Japan has little in the way of natural fossil fuel resources for energy generation which makes their choice of energy sources much more difficult.
Geiger Readings for April 17, 2013
Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on April 17, 2013
Ambient office = .071 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .126 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain = .093 microsieverts per hour
Sliced Crimini mushroom from local grocery store = .083 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .088 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .060 microsieverts per hour
Radioactive Waste 23 - New US Policy May be Illegal
When this country was founded, a system of checks and balances was created where the three branches kept watch on each other. Sometimes actions proposed or taken by one branch result in a challenge from another branch. The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is part of the Executive Branch under the U.S. President. The General Accounting Office (GAO) is a Congressional division that audits and evaluates government program.